Weird Things Happening in Brussels

 A couple of days  ago I  celebrated my first two months here in Brussels. I don't think 'celebrate' is the right word, I would rather use something like 'commemorate' or 'mark'.

Many people have asked me about the Belgium and the Belgians, about their culture, habits and national identity. I found myself unable to give proper answers to all the doubts and questions people have on this rather small but so diverse country. Therefore, I have decided to dedicate this post to whatever I have been able to grasp about this tiny (yet great) nation. 

I want to start with Magritte. Exactly, Magritte, the great and much celebrated Belgian artist (to whom a very interesting museum here in Brussels is dedicated. I highly recommend it), whose work is sometimes difficult to comprehend entirely. So often I have found myself in front of one of his painting wondering how someone could ever think of such an absurd subject, until I have arrived in Belgium. Then I realised that ONLY a Belgian could have ever possibly produced such works of art! Don't get wrong, it's definitely great art but sometimes a bit too difficult to grasp!

Magritte was a product of a rather 'absurd' country where everything is left to chaos. The first that really struck me was the way all the signs were arranged! If you follow the signs in the street you can be sure you'll get absolutely lost! 

To give an example of what I mean I will tell you exactly what happened to me this weekend when I was trying to catch the bus for The Hague. First thing I do, I check Google maps for the itinerary; it looks like that if I take the metro I get directly to the bus station in 15 minutes. So I leave my house around 12.10 to make sure I could catch the bus at 12.45. I get to the station and I find out that the sign for the line and direction I have to take. It looks like I have to go upstairs and that I have two options: stairs or escalator. I decide to take the stairs but once I am up I find myself on the street! I was so angry and I immediately thought: Belgians!! I turn and I see the stairs going down with the directions for the metro, I go down and I find myself in the same place where I started!! So frustrating! Suddenly I realise that I didn't notice a small note indicating that the platform was downstairs! I get onto the metro but I have already lost 10 minutes in a goosechase!! Finally I get to my stop where I have to change for  the train going directly to the bus station. 5 minutes to find the right direction. It turns out I have two options: one is getting out of the station and then back in again or take a deep and dark tunnel towards the platform. When I finally reach the platform I can't understand which line i have to take because three different lines leave from the same platform! Eventually I understood that my train was the last to leave and that I would have had to wait another 15 minutes meaning that I was going to miss my bus!!!!

This is not the end of the story though. When I finally got to the bus station and ran to get to the bus I still had to go through an absurd sequence of events. I did the check-in, they gave me a ticket that said I was supposed to get on bus no 3. I walked to the deck and I couldn't see the bus number until someone stopped me, took my ticket and told me to get on a bus. I got on, despite the fact that the destination indicated on the front of the bus was Milano Malpensa! I was sitting on the bus wondering why someone wanted to go to Milano Malpensa with a bus from Brussels just to catch a plane. The only explanation I could give myself was that the bus was probably old and that no one wanted to go through the hassle of changing the sign on front of it!!

Another really weird thing is the new 'public toilet' they installed on my way to work, just outside Gare Central. The thing (no other way to describe it) is standing in the middle of the street and it is like a cone with four 'toilets' attached to it and men stop, have a go and then keep walking! Could you imagine the smell and the disgust? Everything is basically 'en plein air'! I think it is the council brilliant idea to counteract the common habit of peeing against any standing wall! This is a common practice in Belgium and that is probably the reason why the city mascotte is a peeing child!!

There are many funny things that have happened to me since I came two months ago and the list will be too long. Just to name a few: it's difficult to pay with a credit card, almost impossible to find a cash machine and the trash is collected only twice a month... I could go on for ages!

I just want to share with you one last and probably the weirdest thing I have ever witnessed to. It is something that explains the picture above. One rainy evening, around 7pm, I was walking up the street that from my place leads to Le Sablon.  The purpose of my wandering at such a late (!) hour was the irresistible need for chocolate mousse. I came to the crossing and I noticed something very peculiar: an umbrella was attached to the handrail that separates the road from the pavement and a nice big loaf of bread was lying underneath it as someone cared so much about that loaf that wanted to keep it sheltered from the rain. At first I was absolutely puzzled and I stopped at the crossing staring at the umbrella when I realised a sock on top of the umbrella as well! I couldn't believe my eyes and so I gingerly took another quick looked at it. People next to me didn't seem that interested in this peculiar arrangement and I was asking myself if it was supposed to be a work of art or that was just a normal way of keeping the bread dry in Brussels. Anyway when the road was clear I crossed, went to the shop and bought my chocolate mousse. But when I reached the crossing with the mousse safely in my bag and a big smile on my face there it was a again the umbrella, the sock and the bread. I stopped to look at it carefully and suddenly a man all dressed up in a nice suit, tie and raincoat appeared standing next to me. I looked up into his eyes and I could see he thought I was going to steal his bread, so I decided to walk away. Immediately I thought about Surrealism; Magritte or Dali and so I got convinced that I had found the answer to why this artistic movement was born in Belgium. The Belgians are so absurd and creative in their absurdity that paintings like the ones by Magritte probably just represent their normal everyday life!

Seventh week...Brussels has its beautiful spots

My seventh week was all  about discovering that Brussels has some nice spots where you can take beautiful pictures. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous (except for some occasional rain) and I think that helped me see the city, its buildings and colours with the photographer (or painter!) eye! Actually my plan for the day is to paint a view of the city. We'll see what I manage to do. Every single time I sit down at the table with all my colours and brushes and the result is never like I wanted it to be!

I guess it's just part of being an artist (!); you always push yourself to do better and you're never happy with you finish product!

Here you just have some pictures that I have taken in the past few days. I am really happy with these. I think they look very nice considering that I took them with a really old iphone!

Apart from this epiphany about Brussels, my week was nice. We have a new colleague in our department. She is from the States and it is nice to have a full office with the three of us chatting and probably working less. During the week we went for a drink the three of us together. It was an impulsive decision but a great opportunity to welcome her into the team. It is a bit of a long story and definitely not a happy one. Last week a friend and neighbour with whom I am almost related (but how we became almost relatives would be too long and complicated to explain) asked me if I could take care of her cat while she was on holiday. I accepted enthusiastically because I love cats and I really miss having one. The only  problem was that the poor kitty was a bit unwell. I went the first day and he seemed to cope well with the fact that he was on his own but the second night I received a call from the other friend who was taking turns with me to feed him saying that the cat was really ill and that she had to call an 'emergency' vet. We decided to take him to his vet's the following day. So here's when my colleagues come into the story, they were really curious to see how a Belgian vet looks like that they came with us as well. I was a bit concerned about the cat because he was unwell and without his owners and seeing all these stranger could have scared him even more. He was so unwell and weak that I don't think he even realised that there were two new more people. Anyway we had to leave him at the vet's because he needed loads of fluids and antibiotics, now it looks like he is slowly recovering.

After the vet my colleagues and I decided to go for a pizza and beer. We found this cute italian restaurant on my street and we had a nice real italian pizza (a bit overpriced for a pizza but not for Brussels I guess) and we have a lovely time together.

On Thursday we had a picnic with everyone from the office. We have a nice park just across the street. It is a huge park built under King Leopold II. It's called Parc de Cinquantenaire and with its monumental atmosphere, it reminds me a bit of the parks you could find in Paris maybe. 

On Saturday we all (the office group plus a couple of other friends, flatmates etc) went out for tapas in this Galician Cultural Centre. As you step in you find yourself in Spain! It is amazing, it really reminded of the time I was in Asturias where there were all these tavernas serving cider, so noisy and simple. The place is huge and very basic; long and massive table and loads of Spanish drinking and eating what is really traditional food. We had tapas and cerveza and then we moved onto a bar/club that I didn't enjoy. By 2am I was home already, glad to be in my bed! I find really hard to keep up with this working life schedule: I can't wake up in the mornings and I struggle to get through the day. Also I don't know if my biological clock is broken or my blood pressure is REALLY low but I am basically in a coma until 4pm and then gradually I wake up and by the time I have to go back home I am really active! It might be good for social activities but not if you have to wake up 8am the following morning and facing 8 hours of sitting in front of a computer. Maybe the bottomline is just that I don't like my job. I don't think so, I have really good time at the office!! 

Another thing that I realised is my lack of concentration.  I am always doing two things at the same time. Usually I have 10 windows open on my desktop: one is our database, then my gmail, then something I am researching on, then the news (usually 5 different newspapers from 5 different countries) etc and in this way I am doing so many things at the same time and something always goes wrong! 

I am now thinking of buying myself a bike so I can cycle around the city. Now I  take the metro everywhere but it is absolutely crazy! There is always a problem! Last week there were two accidents two days in a row. One of them was so serious that they had to shut down the all line and replace the metro service with buses. Unfortunately there were just two buses from 250 thousands people that were standing on top of each other on the pavement. Everyone was angry and frustrated (French people sounds so funny when they are angry) that it was quite amusing in a way. Also what I found really funny it is how they put all these poor men to deal with the passengers and because everyone is so angry they get insulted and shouted at! I don't know why it was such a great cultural experience but after that I began to consider getting my own bike. I waste so much money in metro tickets and the service is not even that good!

I think this is all for this week. I just put here some pictures I have taken from my window. This has been going on all weekend now and if at the beginning was funny now I am getting a bit annoyed. I don't have anything against the Scottish but now I really would like to shoot these kilted men that are playing pipes under my window!!!

I will get back in touch next week! Have a good Sunday!!

My Fifth and Sixth week...in the land of the Soviets

Hello everyone,

I know it took a long to write this post but I had the most busiest two weeks since I came back from England! It was great fun but I hope it slows down a little because I honestly cannot keep up with this pace! Basically I have been eating and drinking for 10 days in a row. Now I feel like my body is starting to been affected by this 'unhealthy' style and so today I am on a mission to buy healthy food. I have found a nice and cheap bio market not far from where I live and I am planning to go there and buy LOADS of vegetables and TONS of fruit!

You probably want to know what happened, right? 

I think there isn't much to tell apart from the fact that I'm just having lots of fun! I have always something to do: theatre festival, music festival, sushi, barbecue etc. So just loads of 'social events' like my mom likes to call them. 

On the personal level, everything is going great, even though, when I am tired I have a sense of discouragement that leaves a sort of bitterness in my mouth. It is a feeling that I am wasting my life, pursuing a career that lots of other people are pursuing without success and that I should have more priorities, which in the long term are more durable and rewarding. I don't know what to think of the adventure I am living now. It is definitely something I don't want to do for the rest of my life, so is really it worth it then? Sometimes I think it is, because I have already met loads of interesting people and I think I am growing up. Other times I think that all these people are like all the other people before them, they come and go. Then, when I come to the conclusion of this long inner debate, I like to think that people don't come and then  go unless you make them go and if you make them go it is because they weren't important enough. I sometimes wonder if my life will ever be stable enough and if I will ever have a place I can call my home. I guess it's only by living that you find out. 

The job is proceeding with a very slow and not fun pace. Sometimes I sit at my desk, writing e-mails in italian, reading italian newspapers (which are only a bunch of crap, sorry!!) and I think that I escape Italy, I ran away from that language, that culture only to find myself sitting in an office in Brussels doing what I tried to avoid all my life. Sometimes I feel like I am wasting my time, or even worse like I have thrown away all my dreams. I know, I am a bit tragic. I guess it is my nature!!

While I am doing all this stuff with Italy, I am also slowly realising that I miss Russia and Russian a lot. I love the sound of that language, the people and the adventurous feeling you get by living there. I have asked my boss if you could let me work with Russia a bit more but apparently he doesn't trust my language skills. I reckon it is fair, considering that he has never seen a paper or a certificate that can prove my level. I insisted so much that he decided to give me a chance but instead of giving an easy task, he asked me to get an article published on a Russian newspaper. This is the most difficult thing you could ever do and having to do it in Russian is even more difficult especially because in that particular case you have always to call.  So at the end I gathered all my courage and I called Russia to realise that I know more than I think, thank God! I have managed to make three calls and speak with journalists. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Russia is a bit in a mess at the moment with the Olympics and the elections of the new Moscow mayor, they explained that it would have been very difficult to get one of our stories into a newspaper but that they would love to hear from us once things cool off a bit. My colleagues were really impressed of the fact that the Russians were so nice. Everyone has this stereotype that they are always arrogant and aggressive. I don't know if it is my attitude or the fact that they appreciate foreigners who make an effort to speak Russian but they were super nice with me and I really enjoyed talking with them on the phone.

Other news concern my future plans. I don't know what I am going to do after I finish here, expect probably do a master's in London in September, but I have applied for the traineeship at the European Commission. That is one of the reasons why my week was so busy; I had less than a week to prepare the all application but with the help of everyone I know I was able to get to the bottom of it and submit it on the last day of the deadline! We'll see what happens but I would not be too hopeful, though. I lack some of the requirements, I am supposed to speak three European languages and I only speak two because my third is Russian.

Since I needed a letter of recommendation I emailed my personal tutor at Bath and he replied saying that there is an opportunity to work as an Italian or English teacher in one of the Russian universities he works with. Now he has put the idea in my head, I would not be surprise if I end up teaching Italian in Magnitogorsk for a summer!! For the joy of my mom, at least. For this as well, we'll see what happens.

On a very tragic note I have another of my sad reflections. On Friday I was getting out of the metro on my way home from work. I was hungry, tired and frustrated. I was about to cry for all the stress and disappointment I had to faced this week and I heard two italians chatting. Tears immediately filled my eyes, I was furious. Immediately I thought that it is because of Italy and the Italians that I am here, all alone and frustrated. It is because Italy is a fucked up and corrupted country with no opportunities that I am here. I left when I was 18 and I always thought the main reason was curiosity, curiosity of exploring the world and see what is outside my comfort zone. The more time I spend in Brussels the more I realise that was not the main reason for going but quite the contrary. The main reason was necessity, survival. Most of the non-italian people I meet here are here because they wanted to explore, venture and try new things. The Italians, which are definitely much more in number, are here because of desperation hoping for a better life, better opportunities.

Today I am leaving my room to move to another room across the landing. Nothing traumatic since the new room is as nice as the other but it means that I have just one month left in this house and I have to go through the annoying process of finding another suitable place to live. Today I went to see this flat but they want loads of money for a room that is worth definitely less and also the area is very run down. I was waiting for the girl to come down and open the door and a man just randomly came up to the building and pea against the wall!! I was just standing there and I could see everything...I don't think I am going to live there in the near future.

I am now finally in the new room and it is very nice: big and full of light. I have a less nice view but it is compensated by the fact that I have a shower and not a bathtub so no more shower sitting down for me!!

On Saturday I had a friend visiting from England. She came just for the day because she was in Luxembourg visiting a friend. We had loads of fun just making fun of Belgium and the Belgians.  Also she brought me an amazing box of macarons. They are all gone! Apart from the macarons, we did a tour of the city and we had a great time chatting and catching up. It made me think about how difficult it can be to live so far from the people you really love. Sometimes I realise that I really enjoy making my life more difficult that it really is.

For now these are all the news. Just think that if I go to Russia after this you could read posts directly from the land of the Soviets, how cool is that?

Good night  (now I go to watch a Russian film, of course!)

A list of all the places I have been to on my birthday!

Someone asked me to make a list of all the places I have been to on my brithday... It was a nice exercise and a way to remember all the people I have spent it with! I just have some troubles remembering 2010 and 2011, probably because I was feeling miserable and sad about the fact that I was turning 20 and 21. So people this is all I guess!!

1990-Milan

1991-95 Cassano Spinola

1996 Oban iin Scotland, in a pub where my dad asked the band to sing 'happy birthday' for me! I will never forget that :)

1997-2005 Cassano Spinola with great friends (Benedetta, Francesca, Anatoli etc)

2006 Ely, UK (My first time in England!!)

2007 Burgos, Spain. I was in an amazing hotel, the Landa Palace, where I had a very nice dinner with my parents in a great location. That was my mom's treat :)

2008 I woke up in Comeana because I was visiting my grandad (hewas the first to congratulate on my 18th birthday), then I was in Genoa having dinner with family and my best friend Benedetta.Then the after I flew to London with Benedetta. For this special birthday my parents booked me and my friend holiday in London with nice boutique hotel in Chelsea!

2009 Bath, it was the first time. I had diinner at the McDonald Hotel, the same one where Feli and I had our graduation lunch!

2010 Cassano Spinola

2011 Stockholm, Sweden

2012 Bath. This was the year when my friend Fab treated me to a day at the Spa with the rooftop pool and stunning view over the city and a great Spanish dinner!

2013 Brussels with all its great memories and new people!

My fourth week, half in Belgium half at home

Hi everyone!

I'm back! I'm sorry it took a bit longer for this post but I have an excuse; I got back from England late on Sunday night and Monday was already a full day at work!

My third week went smoothly and fast mainly because we worked up till Wednesday and then we had Thursday and Friday off due to public holiday.

Leaving for England brought up so many mixed feelings! I felt like I didn't need to go back because my life there felt so far away. When I got there I had the same impression, like i had left a long time ago. This lasted a few hours,  already the following day I was comfortable back in my Bathonian routine!

The journey there was pretty uneventful, no funny stories there sorry! I thought it was very cool traveling from Brussels to London and having sushi along the way: I felt a very busy and cosmopolitan business woman!!

I had such a lovely weekend back  in the UK! I realized how for me there will always be my home! I don't have to put on a mask or make an effort to understand the mentality, it is all very natural to me. I have also understood why I like it so much; it is because the UK has given me all I needed and wanted, it was the starting point for the life I always wished for myself and I will always be grateful for that. Italy just gave me frustration, disappointment and loneliness, UK made me feel fulfilled! Even though I like my new outgoing and friendlier Belgian self, I always have the sensation that I am overdoing it just to avoid being lonely and miserable hoping that everyone will like me!

My weekend was busy but really enjoyable. On Thursday it was my mom's birthday so the three of us went out for a meal in a nice place in the countryside where I managed to stuff myself with food! My mom seemed very happy and I was so glad to be able to be there to celebrate with her.

On Friday I went shopping with my mom and i got to choose my birthday present :) an then I went out for drinks with some friends from the museum where I used to volunteer. When I came home my mom had prepared lovely gnocchis with cheese, yummy!

On Saturday a friend treated me to a beautiful and tasty full English breakfast followed by a proper and nice catch-up! Then I went out for lunch with a friend from university and had a lovely time catching up as well and telling each other's impressions about our new life after university!

In the evening my mom and I  with a couple of  friendswent out for a lovely meal in Castle Combe, a village made of one row of little cottages and a inn. I love small English country villages. They are so charming and it often feels like having a journey back in the past. Castle Combe is also particularly famous because Steven Spielberg filmed some scenes for Warhorse in the tiny village.

Sunday was just a relaxing day that I spent with my family before catching the train late in the afternoon. The journey back was a bit more stressful as I managed to book two trains to close to each other and so I had to run to St Pancras worrying that I would have never made it, only to find out that the train was 30 minutes late grrr!!!

When I got to Brussels I had to face the cruel reality by fighting for the taxi! I willl probably sound too British but it is so nice and tidy when people queue for the cab BUT not here where everyone jumps in the middle of the street according to the principle that the first taxi to run over you is yours! I decided to follow this unwritten rule and got on a taxi in no time. The driver took me around for a tour of the city and the ride costed me a fortune!! 

Back in Brussels I don't feel that homesick. I didn't cry when I got here but I cried on the way!I realised I have my life already or something like, that and I am not completely lost like other times. I have also still the urge to explore and go beyond what is familiar, so I feel like I have to be here. Being here made me realise that I have a problem when I have to live far from my family. Family has an important role for me, I pretend it is not like that but it is. I think I would like to have a family one day because those are the relationships that never cease to exist, other people come and go but not your parents or children or siblings. I know now that family has a priority and a special meaning for me. 

Belgium is still interesting, but such a mess. Signs don't make any sense and if you follow them you will get lost hundred percent of the times! And then everything is done carelessly. Today I went to the supermarket and managed to buy  tomatoes that were a month old!! weren't they supposed to throw them away?!?

The job is fine, even though I am really not made for administration, my boss is going crazy because I just don't get it and think things true but I did find contacts that are very important for the organisation so I think that prevented me from getting kicked out!! I will learn some day, slowly slowly.

THis is all for my third week! Fourth week coming up soon!!

Good night!!!

My Third Week, My Birthday and other events...

This was the week of my birthday..... Everyone who really knows me has a clear idea of how much I hate celebrating it. I hate those big parties, with loads of people (half of whom you probably don't even know) and the concept of forced happiness!Yes, forced happiness, because on your birthday you have to be happy. It doesn't matter if it has been the worst year of your life, if you are ill, poor, if you are living in a damp with no one who cares for you and provides for you...All of this doesn't really matter because it's your birthday!

On 6th I woke up with all these thoughts in my head and despite the fact that I didn't want to be sad, I was trying really hard to be cheerful! I was excited but at the same time I felt really lonely. Then it turned to be a great day, a memory that I will always cherish. Last week two of my colleagues decided to try an Ethiopian restaurant and so I suggested to go on my birthday so I wouldn't have been alone. They made the dinner all about me and one of them even baked a wonderful chocolate cake! Just one piece of advice for everyone: if you ever get the chance to try ethiopian cuisine do! ...it's amazing!!! It's a very different way of eating as you share the food with everyone else at the table but it's really tasty and the flavours....OMG so interesting! Yeah that's the word...I would describe the food as interesting!

The week went on pretty uneventful. I can't really say I enjoy my job but I do enjoy my new life! It is cool to have a job, a house in a new and international city, new housemates and friends. I feel like I'm learning every day. Everyday can be a chance to meet someone really interesting and cool. Life should always be like this. Sometimes I think we should all move somewhere new for a while, just like a sort of therapy to rediscover life and appreciate it again.

The job is helping me understand what I would really like to do! I'm sure I would love to do research in human rights. So I have been thinking about applying to this master's programme at UCL which teaches you research methods and key issues regarding human rights studies. It would be such a great experience but of course all depends on how much money I manage to save in my time here. We'll see...dreams are good for giving you hope and an aim in life!

Friday, yesterday, we all had dinner at a colleague's. Actually an ex colleague, it was a goodbye dinner. She finished her internship and she wanted to celebrate her last day with us. It was a nice evening and a bit sad because we had to say goodbye to another colleague who is now leaving Brussels for good!

Tonight, on the other hand, I am treating myself to a quiet night. I have the house all for myself which makes me feel a bit like a loser lol. Sometimes I need nights like this though when I can spend time by myself doing what I like. I spend all my week around people and I live with five other people, well at the moment 3 but still I see people all the time and there is a moment when I say: 'this is enough, I want to be on my own'. I don't like being lonely and I love meeting people and I have great friends with whom I would love to be right now, but quiet nights are still great! Also I am really tired...probably because I don't sleep enough and tomorrow I want to go running early in the morning. I don't think I can run again at 2 in the afternoon like last week!! 

This is my third week, people! Not a busy one like the last but still interesting! 

Next weekend will be in Bath!!! I'm so excited!!! Here we have two days off because it's the 15th August which for some reason is a bank holiday in Catholic countries, and so I am taking advantage of the long weekend to go home for a bit! I'm sure it will be a nice break from the hectic Brussels life.

Good night to everyone and enjoy your Saturday evening whether you are doing nothing like me or partying with loads of alcohol and people ;) 

Second Week....Very very busy!!

Hello hello!!

Here I am with my second week installment! It has been very very busy and I don't really know where to start to tell you my long story.

I can start by saying that it is going very well and that this will be a far less depressing post! This is my good news for the week: I am actually enjoying my time here!! As you can probably see by the amount of exclamation marks I am putting at the end of every sentence!

Let's start from the beginning. Monday began as a not very exciting day; I woke up thinking that I didn't really want to go to the office and that my life sucked! I went anyway, you know, I don't really have a choice but it actually turned out to be quite interesting. By turning up I was able to get invited to a house party, which is a bit of killer since you have to work the next day. Anyway, the party was fun even though I arrived pretty late because, as usual, I got super lost in Etterbek, a neighbourhood made essentially of alleys and sidestreets. I wondered around trying to find the right house for an hour and then I heard familiar voices coming from a roof terrace and I realised that I was in the right street, in front of the right house!

Tuesday was a great night too :) I went to a Finnish dinner hosted by my colleague in the Communications department. I had amazing Finnish food. It is quite similar to Russian foood and really good. I stayed there till 1 just chatting and drinking. It was nice getting to know my colleagues.

Then on Thursday I finally moved out of the B&B. I was really happy to move because the area around is so dodgy!! On Tuesday I got a cab back home and the taxi driver told me to be very careful because the street is very dangerous!! So as you can see not a very nice place to live. Despite this, by the time I had to go to pick up my keys I felt really anxious, like I had a bad feeling about the all situation. I realised later that it is just my fear of change that always gets me when I am doing something new. Also all that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong. 

All started when after picking up the keys, I went to collect my stuff from the B&B. In the morning I realised someone had entered the house. It might sound a bit creepy but how I noticed is quite interesting and mysterious. I should be a detective, I think! So I came down the stairs and I smelt really strong perfume. I immediately thought I wasn't the only one in the building! I could smell the perfume up to the second floor, so I knew that the person who was there with me had a nice tour of the house as well!! I got quite scared, especially because the perfume was definitely for men. So I walked down the stairs very slowly creating a whole story in my head about the fact that maybe the night before I was a bit drunk and didn't close the door properly and so some homeless decide it was a good chance to sleep in the hall! Of course the whole story could have not be true because the night before I wasn't drunk (don't worry mum!), I had actually checked if the door was locked properly and then homeless people don't usually wear expensive perfume!! Anyway when I came down to the hall I saw that no one was there, that the mail was all sorted on the stairs and that the door was locked with an extra iron bar! I managed to get out from the building pretty quickly and left in a hurry. I don't know but I still think that house is pretty creepy! The bottom line is that when I got to the place in the evening I couldn't get in anymore because of that extra iron bar! I was so frustrated and angry that I didn't know what to do. I must have stood 5 minutes staring at the door. Then I decided to call the owners, who are in Italy by the way, but I didn't have any money on my phone. So I ran to the shops area because by that time it was almost eight and that is the time when shops usually close! I found this Indian guy that sold just 5 euro top-up cards. As soon as I got the money I called my mom crying and managed to finish all my five euros with a nice and short international call! My mom managed to calm me down and told me to get more money on my phone, go back to the place to try the key again and then just keep calling the owners. So I followed the advice: got the money (another super-nice Indian guy that topped up my phone for me because I was in such a state that I couldn't even dial the numbers!) and started calling the owners on my way back to the B&B. All the calls were going to the answer machine, I couldn't feel more stressed! Finally I made it to the place and by trying and trying the key finally worked and I could get in. I felt so stupid: it was just a matter of trying the key a few times. I couldn't have been more embarressed with myself! 

So this is just part of the story, my adventure is not over yet! Maybe I should write this in two different posts, this one is getting very long! Anyway, the story continues with the cab. By the time  I got home and topped up my phone twice I didn't have money for the taxi anymore so I called the company and I asked if I could have paid by card, they said there was no problem and so I booked my taxi for an hour later. I brought all my things downstairs, that was a very good workout, and I sat in the hall waiting for the cab. By 9.40 (it was booked for 9.30) there was still no sign of the taxi so I called the company again and they said there had been a mistake and the booking was made for the day after! I felt such an idiot and also a bit angry because it all happened thanks to my inabilty to articulate three words together in French, but also because the company provides an English service with people that don't understand a word of English! It was not all my fault but it would be better if I stop being such narrow minded and actually learn the local language and not always assume that English gets you everywhere!  They changed the booking and finally the taxi arrived! The driver was such an asshole though. He laughed at my French, at the fact that I was speaking English to him (well if you don't understand when I speak your language I am afraid I didn't have many other options!) and then he told me I couldn't pay by card! I got so angry and I told him I asked the people who do the bookings but apparently you can only do that when it is more than 20 euros!! He was really angry and said he couldn't believe I didn't even have 5 euros to pay him. So he unloaded the car and left all my stuff in the middle of the street shouting that I had to go to the cash machine. I said that I wasn't going because he had left all my stuff in the middle of the street. Very nervously I started counting the money and I miscounted it so he thought I was trying to scam him and leave without paying the last euro!! I wanted to cry, shout and punch him in the face!! FInally I managed to find THE euro and he left mumbling something 'Unbelievable, go to hell!'. The frustrating part of it was that I can never speak but I understand almost everything.

When  I finally entered my room and sat on the bed I was so happy! I immediately went to bed and I was ready for the next morning which also brought something exciting. 

At work every morning we do what it is called a 'daily brief'. We read all the news from the major agencies like BBC, Reuters etc and we sum up what happened in the world with attention to human rights. We also combine it with our work so we also include dispatches and reports from our researchers (only the ones that are public). Usually my colleague does it but on Friday I had my first try. I think it went well. They corrected the English and added a few things but I could still recognise my style and my work when it was published on our webpage. It was such a great feeling that I read it like four or five times before closing it! I don't think you will find it now because it is edited in the evening from NYC. They update it with more news and report but I can always let you know when I will do it again. We share the work with my colleague so each does it every other day.

Back at the flat it was a bit weird. I felt like I was living on my own. No one was around when arrived and i just assume they were asleep but the same thing happened in the morning and when I got back from work in the evening. Then on Friday I found this girl who apparently was a guest of  one of my flatmates. She invited me to join her friends for a drink on Friday evening. I went and I found out that are so many Italians from Bocconi working as interns at the Commission! It is like an army!! Very interesting and different night though!

On Saturday I finally met one of my flatmate, the only one in Brussels for the weekend. It is actually six of us and very international: Italian, Danish, Dutch and Spanish. The all weekend it was just two of us but tonight two others arrived and then the Spanish guy is moving in next week. Now I have some time to get to know everyone. It is exciting, they all seem very nice.

I am actually quite sad that I am staying here just for two months. The house is great; big and spacious with loads of light. The location is great too; 5 minutes from the Grand Place and the Royal Palace, 10 from Louise, a very posh area with shops and nice cafes. The neighbourhood immediately next to the house is called Sablon and even though it is one of the most expensive areas of Brussels, is just so pretty and lively. You have nice cafes that for the summer keep all the tables outside and amazing chocolatier, it is such a tempation! It is actually pretty good that all is so pricey otherwise I would just get so fat!! Then you have amazing art galleries...For someone who loves art like me it is just the perfect place. I spent my Saturday afternoon walking around the galleries and I felt very European. I know it might sound strange but I haven't properly lived in Europe for a while and it is so cool this European life; nice food, cafes, art and the gorgeous whether, even the French accent is cute!

Yesterday evening I went out with my colleagues. I had a nice time. We ended up going home around 4 but it was fun. It is nice to explore the city. I think I did drink too much wine though and even though I wasn't drunk I went into a sort of sad mood when you just reflect about your life and you make everyone part of your reflections. Sometimes it just happens to me, not all the time though because usually when I drink I just get more lively and silly but yesterday I just talked nonsense for hours. I think it's the birthday coming up. I am getting into a crisis...getting old sucks! 

So today I woke up with the reassurance that wine is really bad for my stomach and my head!! I decided, then, that the only way to get rid of the feeling was to go running!! But I woke up at 12 and had my breakfast around 1 so by the time I was ready for my run it was like 2.30! People tried to persuade me not to go but I didn't hear any reason, I was very determined! They must have thought I was absolutely crazy but  I think I really needed it; I ran 5.36 km. I have this energy that I need to use because I sit all day and I don't get physically tired!

I think this is actually all, people! It is a very long posts and I am sorry but I had so many things to tell! I don't think I like Brussels yet. It is a very good enviroment if you want to work for international organisations and you have a law or politics degree like me but I live in this 'eurobubble' as they call it here and you just spend most of your time speaking English and you miss the local culture. It is definitely cool and exciting because you really meet people from all over Europe and the world but it is not like living in any other city when you really embrace the reality of the place. 

I will leave you now with a picture of the view from my room. It is so nice with all the pointed rooftops one after the other. During the summer evenings it is so romantic, sad not to have anyone to share it with. I know quite a few people read the blog. Thank you, it is nice to know that we keep in touch somehow and also this is my bla bla, it is like a diary so sometimes I might write things that you might not agree with etc but I want to keep track of my impressions and feelings so I just write whatever comes up to my mind! A bit like when I talk, I just say what it comes up to my mind, not always the best things to say out loud!!

Good night to everyone!!